Drift Wood

[itafx]

I've heard drift wood needs to be cured with salt water. What is the purpose of the salt when the drift wood will be used in a FW tank?

[Sicklid]

I think the salt dip only pertains to knocking off any bad stuff that may be living on it... the microscopic "baddies" from freshwater can not live in high salinity due to the difference in osmotic pressure (salt water is heavy, and crushes them sort of) and vice-versa. It is kind of like bringing a fish up from the depths too fast, and the changing pressures cause it to die very quickly.


Another thing it may do is help to leach out the tannins, but for the most part, you will be wasting salt here since the key to doing that is with frequent water changes...

[itafx]

I used 1/3 cup of salt in ~5 gal water and changed it once so far. The second batch is staying pretty clear, so maybe I'm done. Do I need to soak it in FW after the salt bath so I'm not giving the fish a salt pill when I put the driftwood in the tank?

I think my drift wood was pretty easy to condition because it was already a piece of well worn drift wood that must have been floating for a long time before I found it.

[jsoong]

The salt bath is for killing off any FW life on the surface. After the salt water, it would be best to soak in FW to leech out the salt. A small piece of driftwood prob won't carry too much salt to give problems, but a big piece might soak up enough to drastically alter the salinity of your tank.

[itafx]

Thanks for the tip.

[David14259]

I'm a big fan of boiling driftwood. The temperature kills anything living on the wood, and boiling removes tannins in 1/20th the time normal soaking takes.

[itafx]

How do you boil something that requires a 7.5 gallon pail to submerge?

[tropicfishman]

I always boiled my driftwood, the salt dip isn't a abd idea though!

[itafx]

I wish I had a way to boil it, but it was just too big. After a couple of weeks of pickling in salt with water changes, and then soaking it in fresh water to rinse it, I put it in my tank. Within a few days I had an algae bloom that just wouldn't quit. After 50%, 95%, and 98% water changes and filter media changes, I'm limping along with water that's still slowly getting cloudy. Maybe I'll try fake driftwood next time.

[neilanh]

I found a 22 or 24qt pot at walmart that I use to boil my stuff in. Huge pot, I think it's called a stock pot.